Do you ever feel bored of routine? OR do you feel like you aren’t bonding with your family because you are so busy with day-to-day responsibilities. It can be easy to feel stuck. If you desire to creating more core memories with your family, my suggestion would be to travel more together! Traveling creates connections between family members because you don’t have to worry about soccer practice, your job or making dinner. The focus turns to each other. Make family a priority and create a travel goal.
Why? If you make a travel goal and voice it to the family, it is more likely to happen. When making a goal, think about why you and your family want to travel, how often, and your budget.
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Why Does Everyone In The Family Want To Travel?
Begin by asking each person the why. Why do you want to travel? It’s important to involve the kids in this part. Don’t let them decide everything, but if the kids are miserable, you will be too. They won’t be shy about letting you know they hate something and it could ruin a trip. The motivation behind traveling should be the main reason you take that vacation, and it will shape where you go, and what you do.
Why you travel could include anything from breaking routine and relaxing to experiencing a culture first hand. Here is a list of common reasons why people travel:
- Relaxing
- Exploring new places
- Time with family
- A celebration (wedding, anniversary, baby moon etc…)
- Adventure
- Escape the weather
- Food
- Wellness (a spa experience)
- Cultural Enrichment
- Shopping
- Nature/Wildlife
- Escape Routine
- Education (learn a language, history, etc…)
- Photography
- Event (sporting event, concert, festival, holiday etc…)
So, what did you come up with? It’s okay to have a few different motivations too. For example, let’s say you want to escape the weather, have an adventure while eating good food. That’s great and totally possible!
How Often Do You Want To Travel With Your Family?
If it were up to me, I would travel all the time! We started vacationing with our family by taking short trips around the United States. Creating memories with our children was more important than buying them toys they played with for a few days. We wanted to do more.
In 2021, we made a travel goal to travel 6 months of the year and then return to our home to work for 6 months. Our favorite part was that we would have dedicated time to traveling and also a period where we could come back, socialize with our friends, and make some money for the next big trip.
If we hadn’t been specific with this goal, I don’t know if the trip would have ever been planned. Consequently, the goal made it a reality, and we worked towards it every day.
So ask yourself and your family. How often do you want to travel?
- Do you want to take weekend trips to explore your area of the world?
- Do you want to take a month long summer vacation to a new part of the world once a year?
- Do you want to take a week-long trip during spring break and winter break?
Dream big and be specific. It’s not written in stone; you can always change it. However, without a travel goal, you might not make it a priority and never take the trip.
What’s A Realistic Travel Goal?
So you are probably saying, okay Amanda that’s all well and fine, but can I actually do it?
My answer: Yes!
Can you do it right now? Maybe, maybe not.
Sometimes you have to think of the long game. When we initially came up with our 6-month trip, we had to figure out a lot of things. One of the most important factors was our budget. We didn’t want to put ourselves in a tight spot and spend all of our money. We also didn’t want money to hold us back completely. There is a fine balance. Future posts will guide you through budgeting and ways to save money traveling, but first think about what you are comfortable spending.
Consider:
- How much money can I save each month to make this travel goal a reality?
- Is there anything that isn’t bringing me happiness that I spend money on that I can cut out?
- Do I really need that sweater?
- Do I have any assets that I could leverage to make money while I am traveling?
Write Out Your Family Travel Goal
So to recap, here are the things you are writing down to create your travel goal and start traveling with a family.
- What is your motivation to travel?
- How often and for how long do you want to travel?
- How much money can you save or set aside for travel to make this goal a reality?
Here is what your goal could look like. For example, my family’s current travel goal is below.
We want to take 2 trips a year during winter break and summer break. Our winter break trip will be between 7-10 days and our summer break trip will be 4-6 weeks. We will set aside 1,000 dollars a month for travel throughout the year. Our main motivation for traveling is to have an adventure and spend time with family. We also want to eat delicious food, relax, explore, learn more about different cultures and take some pretty pictures.
Be Flexible And Revisit Your Goal
Our goals are constantly changing and so should yours. Most importantly, making a goal is the first step in making traveling with a family a reality. Then, figuring out the other important details will come later.
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